FILE PHOTO: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has agreed to sponsor 1,000 Right to Information requests for onlineRTI.com, a Bengaluru-based platform that helps people file these applications online.NEW DELHI: Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has agreed to sponsor 1,000 Right to Information requests for onlineRTI.com, a Bengaluru-based platform that helps people file these applications online.

“RTI is a good mechanism for transparency in governance and it has truly brought some power to the common man. People have been truly empowered by using this tool,” Sharma told ET.

Sharma was approached by the onlineRTI team earlier this month during an ‘Ask-me-Anything’ session – an interactive session on the social networking website Reddit, where a famous guest is often asked questions in a live chat environment.

OnlineRTI is a for-profit platform. It charges Rs 99-199 per RTI application and several of its users come from small cities and towns. It uses Paytm’s gateway for accepting payments, and the team observed that most of the application transactions fell through at the payment stage.

OnlineRTI has so far received 1,24,000 RTI application requests, but only 40,000 were filed because the applicants could not afford to pay the fees. “We thought if there is a small hurdle of cost, how about supporting it,” said Sharma.

The platform plans to use the money pledged by Sharma – around Rs 2 lakh – to support public interest and some personal RTIs over this month. “We are planning to support social RTI, for instance something like a road fund or an MLA fund, which is beneficial to the society. Or say RTIs related to widow pension where we know the user cannot afford it,” cofounder Vinoth Ranganathan told ET.

Users who want to file an RTI need to fill in a simple form, and the team at onlineRTI will draft the application by paying government fees and send it through registered post. Sharma’s contribution will be implemented through coupon codes at the payment stage. OnlineRTI files about 2,000-3,000 RTI requests, on an average, per month.